Present wide-coverage networks are generally multi-hop networks of large diameter where a path may traverse several core nodes from one edge node to another. Such networks employ switching nodes of moderate dimensions and have performance challenges. In particular, a multi-hop packet-switching network suffers from cumulative performance degradation as a path from source to destination traverses numerous router-switches. In order to facilitate the introduction of envisaged broadband services, it is of paramount importance that the network diameter be reduced. It is highly desirable that a path from one edge node to another traverse only one core node. It is also desirable, given the dominance of fiber-optic transport, that modulated optical carrier signals received at a core node be switched towards its destination edge node without the need for extracting the baseband signals for switching in the electronic domain followed by modulating optical carriers.
The Need for a New Network Structure
The Internet was designed to route individual packets from a source to a sink where each packet carries an identifier of its sink and, preferably, an identifier of its source. The packets are handled by devices called routers. The function of a router is to identify the sink of each packet it receives and to select a subsequent router to which it forwards a packet en route to destination.
A router has input ports for receiving packets from subtending sources and output ports for forwarding packets to subsequent routers towards destination. The number of input ports and output ports define a “dimension” of a router. A router has a switching fabric for directing incoming packets to respective output ports. The capacity of a router is determined by the capacity of the switching fabric which, in turn, limits the collective capacities of the input ports and output ports of the router. A router also has a processing system, which may include several processing units, to parse incoming packets, determine their destinations, and select an output port for each packet using a forwarding table. The number of packets per second that can be handled by the processing system determines the “throughput” of the router. Conventional routers were generally of low dimension, low capacity, and low throughput. The low capacity was dictated by the size and speed limitations of electronic devices. The low throughput was dictated by the processing limitations, considering the complex Internet addressing scheme which requires a tedious process of deciphering the destination or source address of each packet. The low dimension is a direct consequence of both the low capacity and low throughput. With routers of small dimensions, the network “diameter” can be significantly large. The diameter of a network is a measure of the traffic-weighted mean number of switching nodes (such as routers) traversed by a packet from source to destination. It is well known that the diameter of a network significantly affects the cost and, more importantly, the performance of the network.
The structure of any network is significantly influenced by the capabilities of its building blocks and the method of routing data from sources to sinks through the network is significantly influenced by the network structure. The efficiency and performance of a network are decided by the network structure and the routing scheme. In particular, network performance is very sensitive to the method of routing. Packets are routed through the internet using what may appear to be a very simple hop-by-hop method where every router uses a forwarding table to direct each packet it receives to a subsequent router, selected according to a specified destination of the packet. At the subsequent router, the packet is either placed in a buffer or discarded if the buffer is full. The apparent simplicity of this primitive routing method actually leads to a very complex overall control scheme, very low network efficiency, and poor performance in terms of data loss and delay jitter.
Several attempts have been made to overcome the deficiencies of the Internet. However, instead of addressing the main problem, which is the infrastructure, performance issues were handled by introducing complex protocols. Complex protocols, in turn, resulted in complex routers. The result is a complex network that cannot realize the vision of an omni-present multi-grained high-performance network. Such a network is now badly needed to revive the telecommunications industry and spur economic growth.
Eventually, change has to happen to enhance the Internet, or better yet, create an entirely new Global network of high quality and broadband capability. The change would be motivated—at least in part—by significant advances in access technology in both wireless and wireline media. The high access capacity would call for a tidy high-capacity wireline network core which is currently unavailable.
There is a need, therefore, for a high-capacity network of small diameter that employs fast-switching optical core nodes. Steps toward creating a high-capacity network of small diameter are described in the following:    (1) U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,983, “Agile Optical-core Distributed Packet Switch”;    (2) U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,872, “Self-configuring distributed switch”;    (3) U.S. Pat. No. 6,876,649, “High-Capacity WDM-TDM Packet Switch”;    (4) U.S. Pat. No. 6,882,799, Apr. 19, 2005, “Multi-grained network”;    (5) U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,131, “Global Distributed Switch”;    (6) U.S. Pat. No. 2006/0126,996, “Balanced Bufferless Switch”; and    (7) EP1087635B1, “High-Capacity WDM-TDM Packet Switch”.